Stillwell habcoujrt



(No Model.)

S. HAROOURT.

PIANO ACTION.

No. 376,477. Patented Jan. 17, 1888.

M'Znesses:

. UNITED STATES PATENT O FICE.

STILLWELL HARCOURT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOHN E. HALL, OF SAME PLACE.

PIANO-ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 376,477, dated January 17, 1888.

Application filed Se temhrr 26, 1587.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, SrrLLwnLL HAROOURT, a citizen of the United Staes, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inveuteda new and useful Improvementin Piano-Forte Actions, of which the fol- 1 lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to actions for upright pianos, and more particularly to repeatingactions, or means whereby the stroke of the hammer may be rapidly repeated by partial or slight movements of the key.

My invention consists, in connection with the hammer, hammer-butt, jack, and thelever for raising or operating the jack, of a light spring secured to the hammenbutt projecting to the opposite side of its pivot from the jack, and connected by a cord or link with the inner end of the lever which raises thejaclgcombined with an upwardlycurved or hook shaped guide or cam which projects through a slot in the jack and serves to instantly return the jack to place under the ham mcr butt after each impulse.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Fig. ure 1 is a section of my improved piano action.

'Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of the hammerbutt, and Fig. 3 is a small perspective view of the soft-pedal connections.

In said drawings, A represents the key; B, the jack-operating lever; 72, the link or connection between said lever and the key; C, the jack; D, the hammer-butt; E, the hammer; F, the string; 'G, the damper, and H the stop against which the toe c of the jack impinges. All these parts are of the ordinary and well known construction.

The hammer-butt D is pivoted at d and furnished with a light spring, (1', which projects to the opposite side of the hammer butt pivot from thejack C. This spring .d is connected to the end I) of the jack-lever by a string or other suitable connection, (2 The length of this connection d is preferably made adjustable, and, for convenience of adjustment, I

. provide the end I) of the jack-lever with a slot ing, b therein to the front end thereof,where Serial No. 250,652. (X0 model.

the adjusting screw d is located, so as to be conveniently accessible from the front of the piano. The string or connection (Z is secured to the adjustingscrew, and may be lengthened or shortened by simplyturning the screw, and thus winding or unwinding the string there from. The hammer-butt D is further provided with an upwardly-curved guard or cam, d, which is secured to the lower end of the hammer-butt and projects through a central slot, 0, cut in the upper end of the jack C. The outer end of this curved or hook-shaped cam or guard is recurved or bent slightly downward, as shown at (F, to permit the slotted jack to move backward to its full and ordinary limit. The upper wall or margin, 0, of the slot cin the jack is made downwardly inclined toward the hammer-butt, to correspond somewhat to theinclination of the outer portion of the curved guide (1, so that the slotted jack will move readily and freely on the guide or cam d. The curved guide (1* is preferably made of round wire, and the size of the wire may be such, if desired, as to give a slight spring movement to the curved guide. The spring d, connected with the end of the jacklever, serves to begin the movement of the hammer orhammer-jack by the slightest movement of the key, as well as to partially arrest the rebound of the hammer, and thus aids the curved guide (2 in returning the jack to place after each impulse. The shape of the curved guide is such, as shown in the drawings, as to offer no obstruction to the free clearance of the jack from the hammerbutt after each impulse or stroke, so that the hammer may quickly and properly rebound from the string.

To prevent any lost motion in the keys, I provide an adj nstable or eccentrically-rnounted cushion, K, upon which'the inner ends of the keys rest. This movable or eccentric softpedal cushion extends the full length of the key-board under each of the keys, and is connected to the foot-pedal K through an arm, 70, secured to the shaft is of the eccentric cushion 'K, link k lever k, lever I5 and link If.

I claim---- 7 1. The combination, in apianoforte action, of the hammer, hammer-butt, jack, and jackoperating lever with a spring secured to the hammer-butt and projecting to the opposite side ofits pivot from the jack, and connected by a cord or link with the inner end of the jack-lever, said hammer-butt being also provided at its lower end with a curved guard or guide projecting through a slot in the upper end of thejack for returning the jack to position under the hammer-butt, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, in a pianoforte action, of the hammer, hammer-butt, jack, and jackoperating lever with a spring secured to the hammer-butt and projecting to the opposite side of its pivot from the jack, and connected by a cord or link with the inner end of the jack-lever, said hammer-butt being also provided at its lower end'with a curved guard or guide projecting through a slot in the upper end of the jack for returning the jack to position under the hammer-butt, the outer end of said curved guard being recurved, substantially as specified.

3. Thecombination, in apiano-forte action, of the hammer, hammer-butt, jack, and jackoperating lever with a spring secured to the hammer-butt and projecting to the opposite side of its pivot from the jack, and connected by a cord or link with the inner end of the jack-lever, said hammer-butt being also provided at its lower end with a curved guard or guide projecting through a slot in the upper end of the jack for returning the jack to position under the hammer-butt, the outer end of said curved guard being reeurved, and the upper wall or edge of said slot being down mer-butt pivot from the jack and being conneeted by said link or cord with the inner end, b,ofthejaek-lever, and an adj usting-screw, d, at the front end of the jack lever, said cord extending along the jack from its rear end to its front end and wound around said adjusting-screw, substantially as specified.

6. lheeombination,with hammer E, ofhammer-butt D, provided with spring (1, jack 0, jack-lever B, and link or cord d, said spring d projecting to the opposite side ofthe hammer-butt pivot from the jack and being connected by said link or cord with the inner end, b, of thejack-lever, and an upwardly-curved or hook-shaped cam or guide, d", projecting through the slot 0 in the jack 0, substantially as specified.

S'LILIAVELL HARCOURT.

\Vitnesses:

EDMUND ADCOCK, H. M. llIUNDAY. 

